Had it not been for Aaron Rodgers making his decision to join the Pittsburgh Steelers, inside linebacker Payton Wilson might be the talk of the spring instead. A promising second-year player who flashed as a rookie, Wilson has reportedly taken another step during the team’s spring practices. While there’s only so much to glean from padless practices, the PPG’s Ray Fittipaldo offered some detail for those not attending practice.
“Impressive to watch Payton Wilson move around,” Fittipaldo told 93.7 The Fan’s Jeff Hathhorn Friday morning. “Even though he added five or seven pounds this offseason. He had another pick in practice the other day. He’s just so fluid and so athletic.”
Wilson bulked up to about 243 pounds after playing his rookie year at 235 pounds. In today’s modern age of linebackers getting smaller to be faster, Wilson has size and speed. Adding the weight fills out his tall frame, a player whose body makeup is more akin to a linebacker of the 60s and 70s like Jack Lambert or Ted Hendricks.
While we weren’t at practice to confirm, and reporters are required to be tight-lipped about what they observe at practice, Fittipaldo’s choice of words – “another pick in practice” – suggests he made more than one notable play during OTAs. As a rookie, Wilson intercepted a pass, a fantastic diving interception to rip the ball away from Baltimore Ravens RB Justice Hill in a mid-season victory.
Despite playing in a part-time role and not even half the defensive snaps, Wilson finished with 78 tackles, one forced fumble, and an interception. His tackles ranked fourth on the team. Taking the next step means getting better against the run, an area the entire defense must improve after wearing down late in the season.
“If he could hold up against the run, Jeff, I think they got themselves another three-down linebacker,” Fittipaldo told Hathhorn. “We’ll see how it plays out in the preseason. But to me, just for that two weeks of OTAs, he’s been really impressive to watch.”
At the least, Payton Wilson is ticketed for nickel reps. If he earns the coaching staff’s trust, he could elevate his role to play in the team’s base 3-4 packages, too. That would have him log the majority of snaps, only coming off the field in dime packages when Patrick Queen remains as the lone inside linebacker. In 2024, Pittsburgh only used dime just 12 percent of the time, 125 snaps.
If Pittsburgh can get stronger down the middle with their young and relatively new additions, NT Keeanu Benton, Wilson and Queen, the Steelers’ defense will roar to the finish line instead of limp like last year.
